And I'll be Anything You Ask and More
by ICanReadYouLikeABook
Summary: If you listen very closely, you can hear the earth’s heart beat.” A sweet moment is shared between Toph and Aang. Major Taang fluffiness!


**Title:** And I'll be Anything You Ask and More

**Setting:** Post '_Suzin's Comet_'

**Summary:** "If you listen very closely, you can hear the earth's heart beat." A sweet moment is shared between Toph and Aang. Minor taang fluffiness!

**A/N:** Ah, my first Avatar FF. My goodness, am I proud. I finished watching the last episodes online the other day (you have to love the power of the Internet) and I thought "Where's Toph's happy ending? And who's that boy that she hugged when they all met up with the townspeople?!" So I'm giving her a little something to make her happy and to put my mind at rest. Enjoy!

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"You know, if you listen very closely, you can hear the earth's heart beat."

She was in an unusually peaceful mood today. Aang couldn't say he didn't enjoy it, though. Toph was loud and forceful, hard as rock and steady like mountains. And then she could be as hushed and inconspicuous as sand, as soft and mysterious as clay. She was unclassified on days like this- still the hard-core Toph the legends came to love, yet unremittingly peaceful through and through.

He had always known there was some grace in her. This was her day of showing it.

"Listen, twinkle toes." She lay on her stomach gently and placed her ear to the fertile earth, a sleepy smile gracing her lips. Her hair- which she had let down for today- was flowing and caressing the earth.

He did as he was told and listened, waiting for sound to contact him. He waited…and waited…and waited some more. But the poor avatar could not hear what the girl next to him could. Although he was one of the most powerful people in the world, nothing could match the acute perception Toph possessed.

After a good 10 minutes he sighed. "I can't hear anything. All I hear is the heartbeat of some insects, the nearby animals, mine and yours."

Aang sat up and looked at Toph, good-naturedly envying the content smile on her face. She sensed his movement and sat up to face him.

"Maybe you have to get over one's heart first before you can focus on another," she said quietly, gazing beyond him at something they both couldn't see.

Aang nodded, knowing she would know what he was doing. She could read the earth like a detailed map, but she could read the air too- the air, the sky, the water, and once she claimed to be able to read the stars. Then again, no one really doubted her on any of her claims. If she had possessed the avatar ability to master more than one element, she probably would've known them all by now.

Toph's mystical air seemed to be contagious. Aang felt himself relax and fall into a deep feeling of contentment as they sat on the graceful hill, admiring the immense beauty around them- the vast ocean to the north, the endless forest to the west, the tropical waterfalls to the east, and the graceful hills around and behind them. The circumstances made his heart swell with a deep joy and satisfaction. This was perfection. This was home.

"Toph? You seem to be in a pretty good mood today. Can I ask you something?"

"I am, so shoot."

He hesitated a bit, but went through with his curiosity. "Do you…well, do you wish sometimes…that you could see?"

So many different emotions flashed across her face in such a short amount of time that he didn't quite catch them all. There was surprise at first- then, a flash of anger, along with sadness, confusion, contentment, and hope. Contentment was the last thing that stayed.

"I think…" she frowned and started again. "I think it made me…_stronger_, somehow," she said slowly, trying to find her words. "Like having to depend on my hands and feet instead of everything handed to me by my eyes probably made me more perceptive than if I could see with them. But…I don't think I miss out on much. I _can_ see, after all. Just…not the way most people do."

There was a small, comfortable silence before Aang spoke.

"If the spirits gave you the chance to get your sight back, would you take it?"

"Only if the quest was dangerous," she smiled. "And only if it lasted for a day."

Aang nodded, his curiosity now quelled by her answers. Without thinking, he grabbed her hand and held it, wondering how something so small could make mountains and sense the slightest quiver from a mile away.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"How someone so small could be so powerful."

She smiled again, closing her fingers around his. "You do it every day, Aang."

"Couldn't have done it without you," he said quietly.

Toph smiled. "I know."

She began to move her free hand and fingers around in a mysterious, graceful manner, almost like she was waterbending, only it was much more complicated. A small patch of grass and soil in front of them began to shift and move, forming complex webs and patterns.

"The earthbenders say that everything and everyone originated from the very earth we stand. The people, the animals, the plants- especially the plants… all from the soil we toil in," she mused. Her features were etched in a deep, relaxed concentration. "So I had this crazy idea one day…and it worked. Watch."

There was a small plant that sat in the middle of her intricate earth design. Toph- more gently than she had ever done in all the years Aang had known her- ran her finger down a slender leaf. Dragging her finger from the connected part of the leaf to the tip, she gradually lifted her finger in the air and began to rotate it slowly in a spiral motion.

The leaf began to curl into the shape of a screw.

Aang inhaled sharply, not believing the sight in front of him. She was so incredibly powerful- probably more powerful than him when it came to earthbending. She was constantly doing something new, constantly changing the rules. Plantbending- this wasn't supposed to happen.

"_How?_" he breathed, unable to say more.

She stopped twirling her finger and made a smoothing motion, uncurling the plant's leaf. "What is soil?" she said absent-mindedly. "Some say its ground up rock. Some say it's the remains of the dead. Some say its minerals. Those are all right answers to me. Those minerals have to go somewhere in the plant right? So I'm not actually bending the plant- I'm bending the matter inside of it. Kind of like the waterbenders do."

He shook his head. "You're incredible," he said quietly, staring at her in awe.

A light blush covered her cheeks and she smiled. "Thanks, twinkle toes. You're not so bad yourself."

Aang felt a strange current of pride run through him. He really did have the most amazing friends and teachers a person could have. He took the hand he was still holding and brushed his lips over it absent-mindedly, not really realizing the significance of that action.

She froze, her toes curling up in a struggle to grip the situation, to _feel_ what was going on and what exactly was taking place. If only she could see him, _really_ see him, to read the emotions on his face. This was one of the few and rare times where she wished that she could really see.

"Aang…" she whispered, unable to form what she wanted to say into words.

Her skin was surprisingly soft underneath his lips. Without being able to hold himself back, turned her hand over and placed a chaste kiss on her palm. She held her breath, feeling fragile against all these new emotions and experiences hitting her all at once.

He smiled, enjoying the feeling of her skin against his lips and the confused look on her face. Her pink, plump lips were slightly parted in wonder. They were so perfect, so…

He leaned over and kissed them.

It was nothing too adorned or overly complicated. Just a kiss, no more or less than 4 seconds. But to them, it was so much more. It was uncharted territory- sweet, _sweet_ danger. They had found something that was quite new.

It was her first kiss. She would never forget it.

And yet, the whole thing was wrong. She knew how he felt about Katara, and he knew it too. Nothing would change this. She was written into Aang's fate and destiny, a one that he had gladly followed up until now, and one he would continue long after this day ended.

That was why she decided to turn her cheek away from him, to look away and smile politely. That was why she decided to move on.

"We should probably head back to the camp now," she said quietly, unlocking her fingers reluctantly from his.

"Yeah. We should."

She nodded and stood up, beginning to walk towards their setup, not caring whether he was far behind or not. A little part of her hoped that he was- but just a little. He was; he lingered behind a bit, not caring if she sensed his hesitation in his steps. She wouldn't wait. She had no reason to.

"_I can't hear anything. All I hear is the heartbeat of some insects, the nearby animals, mine and yours."_

"_Maybe you have to get over one's heart first before you can focus on another."_

He smiled at her words and finally understood what she had meant. She knew he wouldn't act upon them, but it was good that he had understood, that he had _listened_. That's all she wanted: just someone to hear her out.

He lay on the ground and pressed his ear to the earth, waiting patiently and listening. Eyes closed, breath held, he listened- _really_ listened this time- and waited for the secret beat that only Toph and the spirits could hear. One by one, every heartbeat began to fade into a quiet nothing. Every animal, every wind, every living, moving thing was silenced.

And then he heard it.

He smiled.

"Thank you," he whispered, thinking of Toph.

She had heard him, of course. She always did.

"You're welcome," she whispered and continued on her way.

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A/N: Tada! What do you think? Maybe a sequel or another chapter's in it for ya if you decide to review!


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